Sunshine and Happiness

I had to create a thank-you card for someone and I wanted it to be extra special. I also wanted a reason to break out the Copics again. I recently bought these fun sunflower clear stamps and I wanted to try them out. I should have taken pictures of the many attempts. I first tried a pinkish/yellowish scheme, but my card was looking too much like Candyland! I decided perhaps natural colors would be best.

I used a Martha Stewart paper puncher to trim the white card stock and the orange background. I then decided to very lightly, sponge some antique photo distress ink on the edges. It's barely noticeable in the photo though. The sentiment was from a $1 pile I found at Michael's.

When I was stamping it, I got that Rod Stewart song, Forever Young in my head which I think is actually a cover of Bob Dylan. Go give it a listen. It'll make you smile.

A Valentine for my Valentine!

I try to make my boyfriend JP something special every year and this year was no exception. I found the cutest stamp from Joann's called Kissin' Kiddos and when it arrived, I started practicing! I should have taken a picture of all the attempts I made, trying to perfect the hair and clothing, but what matters is the end result.

You know, I don't say this very often, but I'm super super proud of this one.

I tried making the girl's skin color a little darker than the boy's since I'm Spanish (but seriously, with this winter weather, I'm as pale as he is these days!).

The background paper was from a Martha Stewart Valentine's Day pack I picked up from Michael's last year (always recycle your holiday paper!). I cut out the heart from the Sweethearts cricut cartridge and stamped the image on there. As for colors, I wanted to make this card very traditional so I stuck to the red/pink and blue/green palate.

JP really liked it so that made me even prouder of this card. I feel like I'm making progress on my copics too!

For Dad

For Valentine's Day, I always make my Dad's card first. Probably because he was always my first Valentine and you know what they say about Daddy's girls.

When I saw this Penny Black stamp,  I knew I had to have it. It took me many tries with my Copics to get it just right- especially the pants!

I wanted to keep the rest of the card as simple as possible since the coloring took me a few days to perfect. I still think her skirt is a little off, but hey- I'm a beginner. At any rate, my Daddy-o loved it. So that's all that matters.